When the final whistle sounded on Colorado State's victory in
the national championship game last May, the team piled on goalie
Jack Regan. The then-sophomore deserved the adulation after making
12 saves in the Rams' 7-5 triumph over Cal Poly, including a couple
that you wouldn't expect from a wiry, 6-foot-4 netminder.

A player from the CSU bench also limped out to offer his
congratulations to Regan. Koltin Fatzinger, a classmate, had been
involved in a goalie platoon for nearly the entire season with
Regan, but tore his hamstring in a quarterfinal win against UC
Santa Barbara. Fatzinger was relegated to the bench for the final
two games of the season.

It was a tough spot for a player who had been instrumental in
helping the Rams win their MCLA-record fifth title.

"I was just mainly a cheerleader," said Fatzinger. "But he's a
great goalie, so he didn't need much help. He was fine."

Regan was happy to embrace his platoon partner, especially
knowing the physical, and perhaps a bit of mental, anguish
Fatzinger was going through. If Fatzinger had avoided the injury,
he would have been the one on the field when CSU clinched.

"He's a tough guy and stayed out there against UCSB, but once he
realized he was hurt and not doing the best thing for the team, he
took himself out," Regan said. "From there on, he was very
supportive of me. He had a great mental attitude about it."

But was that the end of the platoon? One goalie turned away 67
percent of the shots he saw in the two biggest contests of the
season. Another suffered an injury that prevented him from running
the entire summer. Were the Rams going back to being a traditional
one-man goaltending show?

* * *

While they both eventually landed in Fort Collins, Regan and
Fatzinger have disparate backstories.

"What's interesting about them is they are very different in
terms of how they got to CSU, who they are as goalies and who they
are as people," said Colorado State head coach Alex Smith. "But at
the same time, they are both very good goalies."

It didn't take long for Smith to realize he wanted to make
recruiting Regan a priority. After receiving a highlight film of
Regan's career at Sunset High School in Portland, Ore., Smith was
intrigued by how well the youngster handled big shooters,
especially a kid out of Lincoln High School named Peter Baum. "He
had a good shot," Regan deadpanned.

Fatzinger, a Thornton, Colo., product started his college
experience at Chestnut Hill, a Division II school located outside
Philadelphia. He participated in fall ball his freshman year, but
found the experience not to his liking, transferring back home. "We
knew he was a good goalie because he had gone through all the
training with Trevor Tierney," said Smith. "I knew he was going to
be a solid kid in that respect."

Personality-wise, Regan and Fatzinger are different, but the
contrast isn't overwhelming.

"I'm always kind of on the move, he's kind of laid-back," Regan
said of the disparity, a description that Fatzinger concurs
with.

"Neither one of them are going to be the center of attention,
but at the same time, neither of them are completely introverted,"
Smith said. "They are just both part of the team. We don't have
guys who have bombastic personalities and we don't have guys who
are entirely off in the shadows. The goalies completely embody
that."

The biggest gap between the two netminders — even more
than their backgrounds or personalities — is their approach
to the craft. At 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds, Regan makes use of his
size at every turn. Fatzinger, who is 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, uses
his size, as well, but for different purposes.

"Jack is a tall, lanky, rangy kid, and he scores in the top five
in all of our testing stuff except for push-ups because he has so
far to go," Smith said. "He's pretty athletic, and I don't think
people realize that about him. He is just a pure ball-stopper and
catches everything. He's great in the clear because he can throw it
over attackmen. He's a real weapon that way.

"Koltin is more explosive. Koltin doesn't score so well on those
tests, but he is more of the Brett Queener-type of goalie who gets
out, gets the ground balls and is more effective in the clearing
game with his feet. They both bring something different to the
table."

Regan is probably the more technical goalie, using the standard
positioning and arc. Fatzinger has no arc, playing more of a
cat-and-mouse game with the opposing attackmen.

"Jack can just stand there and take up the entire net, so when
he's in, shooters don't see much," said Fatzinger. "When I go in, I
like to bait people. I get low, show them a lot of net up high and
just hope they go there."

"Koltin is pretty explosive and I lay back a little bit," Regan
said. "He's really good around the crease. You can tell when you
look at it. He's a lot shorter and I'm tall and skinny, so we
definitely have different strengths and weaknesses."

* * *

Smith is probably one of the most accomplished goalies in
Colorado State history. He has MCLA national titles to his name and
playing experience in Major League Lacrosse. How would he have
reacted to a platoon situation during his collegiate playing
days?

"I probably wouldn't have been able to handle it," he said.

It's an honest, if somewhat startling, admission. Especially
since Smith is married to the concept of running the same platoon
— Regan for the first 30 minutes, Fatzinger for the second
half hour — this spring as Colorado State prepares to defend
its championship.

Both goalies admit that it took a little while for them to
become accustomed to being a half-timer.

"It was definitely not something I was used to," Regan said. "I
played full games in high school and I was pretty much the main
guy. But you come to Colorado State and it has the nickname 'Goalie
U.' We've traditionally had a ton of goalies; my freshman year we
started out with six. You have to get used to it. Last year was
when we really started with the two-man system. You just kind of
roll right into it. It doesn't really faze me anymore."

"If it was my freshman year, I think it would be hard," admitted
Fatzinger. "But I got to know Jack my freshman year and then it was
kind of an easy thing. He's one of my best friends on the team and
it's easy to cheer for him."

Even as a coach, it isn't always easy for Smith to remain
dedicated to the platoon concept. Anyone who knows Smith, or has
seen him stalking a sideline, understands that he is prone to
compulsive behavior. It's a demon he fought all last year, and
likely will again.

"It happens all the time," Smith said. "When a kid makes a great
save, I'll say, 'We've got to leave him in!' Or someone lets in a
softy and we're saying, 'We've got to get him out of there!' That's
the knee-jerk reaction, but that's what we learned from last year:
the knee-jerk decision is not the positive one for us in the long
run.

"What we discovered, through trial and error, is it makes it
even tougher if they don't know what the expectations are. If they
think the ax could fall at any moment or they think that if one of
them got hot, they'll stay in, it won't work. We got into a nice
rhythm once we said, 'This is what we're going to do, and we're
going to stick with it. We're going to trust our instincts.'"

As good as both Regan and Fatzinger are, the success of the
goalie platoon has been helped by the best close defense in the
association. Seniors Patrick Sullivan, Tyler Zabor and Hayden
Porter have been playing together for several seasons, and combine
to provide a nice security blanket for whoever is minding the cage.
Having the team leaders — Sullivan and Zabor are captains
— who don't care who is playing behind them has been
critical, as well.

"It helps that there isn't a controversy," Smith said. "We don't
have anyone whispering in the corner that, 'Oh, this guy should be
the one playing or this guy is not good enough.' It's just like
this unspoken thing, and that's one of things I like about the
team. This stuff comes about organically, and it's not something we
are planning here. We're just kind of going with the flow with this
stuff and the team takes it for what it is, and I'm appreciative of
that."

The last piece of the puzzle for the goalies was getting their
warmup routine down. It wasn't much of a factor for Regan, who
starts games, but it took Fatzinger a while to set everything up.
He only takes a couple of shots in the pregame and doesn't start
stretching until midway through the second quarter. When halftime
comes, the rest of the team is huddled up and he's getting his
shots. It's an important protocol for a team that plays one of the
toughest schedules in the country and is favored to win the
championship again.

"It's going to be easier," Fatzinger said of this season. "We
know what's going on and I've got my pregame stuff down now. I
think the whole rest of the team is used to now, as well."

"Mentally, the only thing you have to overcome is the fact that
you're losing time and you could be getting it, but he's your
teammate and you trust him," Regan said. "It's OK."

Barring a devastating injury like Fatzinger suffered at the end
of last year, or perhaps Smith getting cold feet, the platoon is in
full effect in Fort Collins. It's worked once, and there's no
reason to believe it won't again.

Only this time, both goalies will have the opportunity to share
the championship spotlight.

Players of the Week

NCAA Division IILuke Miller, A, Soph.,
NYITAfter an injury-plagued freshman campaign, Miller showed
that he's ready to roll this spring. He scored four goals,
including the game-winner, and set up two others as the No. 8 Bears
upset No. 6 Seton Hill, 12-11. He also chipped in with three ground
balls, which was tied for second on the team.

NCAA Division IIIGarrett Paglia, M,
Soph., Washington & LeeIt was one of the best weeks in the storied history of the
W&L program and Paglia was at the center. He scored four goals
helping the Generals bounce national championship Salisbury in
double overtime on Wednesday and then buried the game-winning goal
in an 8-7 triumph over No. 10 Denison on Sunday. Both games were on
the road.

MCLA Division ITrent Dean, A, Sr., Georgia
The Bulldogs posted a 3-0 weekend, including a victory over
SELC heavyweight Florida State for the first time since 2008,
thanks to Dean. He notched four goals against the Seminoles in the
11-6 triumph and added four more in a 16-15, come-from-behind win
against Central Florida.

Power Fives

NCAA Division II1. Limestone (3-0) – The
Saints get to snooze through two weeks before back-to-back games
with Merrimack and Le Moyne.
2. Le Moyne (1-0) – New rules? No
problem. The Dolphins looked frightening in their destruction of
No. 9 Chestnut Hill.
3. Merychurst (1-0) – Brian
Scheetz's seven-point outing is just a taste of what we're going to
get out of him in 2013.
4. NYIT (1-0) – Limestone's win
over Dowling was pleasant, but I could make an argument that the
Bears' triumph was more impressive.
5. Dowling (0-1) – Discount? You
bet. But watching the Limestone game tells me Dowling is going to
be just fine this spring.

NCAA Division III1. Washington & Lee (4-0) – The
Generals had two, one-goal, top-10 road games and came out on top
in both. What a week.
2. Cortland (1-0) – There were 10
different scorers against Albright. That's nice. Consul and Slavik
are still the Big Dogs.
3. Lynchburg (2-0) – F&M is
certainly an underrated team, but there's no way there wasn't a
Salisbury hangover in that win.
4. Stevenson (2-0) – We kind of
have a feel for the Mustangs. RIT and WNE will truly test the
offense's mettle.
5. Cabrini (1-0) – Have to like the
18 goals scored, but giving up 12 goals is very un-Cavalier.
Dickinson wants this spot.

MCLA Division I1. Colorado State (2-0) –
Lots of goals this weekend for the Rams. Nice work. But they better
be ready to grind now.
2. Stanford (5-0) – The Cardinal
should be 9-0 heading into the BYU game, which will be for seeding
purposes only.
3. Arizona State (3-0) – It was a
2-0 weekend for the Sun Devils, but the trip to Minneapolis raised
some questions about ASU.
4. BYU (4-0) – Hopefully the
Cougars got the deed and the keys on Friday night because they own
Chapman.
5. Oregon (4-1) – The Chapman win
is losing a little bit of its shine, but we'll get a better feel
after the Ducks play CU.

MCLA Division II1. St. Thomas (3-0) – Two games in
the next five weeks for the Tommies. Any more bowling outings
scheduled?
2. Grand Valley State (0-0)
– The torch went from Holding to Dumsa. Is Jeremy Pouba ready
to be the next great Laker?
3. Westminster (2-3) – The Griffins
took their lumps against the RMLC-I big dogs, but that's nothing
but a positive for them.
4. St. John's (4-0) – Forget
about Winter Storm Q. It was the Johnnies who demolished St. Louis
this weekend.
5. North Dakota State (0-0)
– Always wondered why NDSU played so many of its games in
Minnesota. Then I saw the Bison roster.

Notebooks

NCAA Division II: Florida
Tech has already matched its win total from '12 after dedicating
its season to a family.NCAA Division III: Washington
College gets Gopher of its back; W&L has a spring break trip to
remember.MCLA Division I: Despite the
hot start, Stanford is keeping its understated approach to the
season.MCLA Division II: With the
schedule, the coaching staff and his health, it's a season of
changes for Dayton's Charlie Mark.